SJU's Heckendorf moves on after plane crash

COLLEGEVILLE – For Kole Heckendorf, the start of a new football season has always meant returning to a routine.

And after the ordeal the St. John's assistant coach has been through this summer, that sense of regularity has never felt so important.

Heckendorf — a former standout wide receiver at North Dakota State who went on to spend time with five NFL teams between 2009 and 2011 — was unhurt when a plane crashed into the home where he and his wife, Kristen, were living on the evening of June 20.

He was the only person in the house at the time and escaped by jumping out the window of an upstairs bedroom. The pilot of the plane, 60-year-old Scott Olson, and his passenger, 16-year-old German foreign exchange student Alexander Voigt, were killed.

The house — owned by Heckendorf's brother-in-law Jeff Hille — was destroyed, and almost all of Heckendorf and his wife's possessions were lost in the ensuing fire. The couple's dog, Storm, also died.

"Football season can't get here soon enough," said Heckendorf last week as he prepared nametags for the 195 or so Johnnies players expected to report Wednesday to Collegeville in advance of the team's first practice Thursday.

"I wish it would have started a month ago. My wife went back to work right away and people thought she was crazy. But after something like that, it's almost worse to be sitting around without much going on."

Heckendorf will have plenty to do this fall. After joining the staff at St. John's on a stipend basis to work with the team's receivers just prior to the start of last season, his position was expanded in the offseason making him almost full-time.

"I know he really wants to get back into football," Johnnies head coach Gary Fasching said. "It's a chance to keep his mind off other things. And we're really excited to have him on the staff in an expanded role."

"More than anything, what we've tried to do the past couple of months is just offer him as much support as we can. But he seems to have rebounded really well. He's always been a very positive guy. That's what I liked most about him the first time we met. Our kids all love him. I know he got a lot of texts from our players checking to see how he was after all that happened and he appreciated that."

The plane crash

Kristen was not home the night of the crash and Heckendorf was upstairs continuing to pack in preparation for the couple's move into a house of their own.

Jeff and his friends had just left to go to downtown Sauk Rapids.

Then suddenly, his life was turned upside down.

"I heard a big explosion and I got thrown on to the bed," Heckendorf said. "It was like, what the heck just happened. I'd been working on some projects and I had paint thinner in the garage. So I thought, 'Did I just do that?'

"I looked outside the door and there were flames everywhere. So I knew I wasn't going that way. At that point, I just grabbed a blanket, used it to knock out the window and got out."

Heckendorf was unsure what had happened after emerging from the house.

"I jumped out the back and when I came around the front I ran into the neighbors who saw it all happen," Heckendorf said. "They told me a plane hit the house. I thought they meant like a little kid plane or something. Because the house was still standing at that point. If it had been a jet or something like that, there wouldn't have been anything left.

"But it was a real plane that had crashed."

Had he been in the kitchen — where he'd been moments before — it's likely Heckendorf wouldn't be here today.

"People have been telling us that we have angels watching over us," Heckendorf said. "Jeff had just left minutes before and I'd gone upstairs. Kristen was gone. Things could have been a lot worse."

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Firefighters were called to a blaze Friday evening after a plane apparently struck a house.
St. Cloud Times

The aftermath

Heckendorf and his wife did move into their new home and have spent the past two months replacing their possessions on an as-needed basis.

"Socks and underwear were the first thing we bought," Heckendorf said. "I had a wedding last week, so I just had to go out and get a suit and tie. There are a lot of things you don't use every day, so we haven't gotten too concerned about those.

"Kristen and I are pretty savvy shoppers and we try to find good bargains. I've been trying to get stuff for winter now because it's on sale. If you wait for winter, it's going to cost a lot more. So we've been trying to find deals on stuff we know we're going to use. The people we bought the house from left a TV for us. So we have a TV there. And the fortunate thing was some of the stuff we had bought for the new place hadn't been delivered yet. So that wasn't affected."

"But there's no question that losing our dog was the hardest thing. Socks and clothes can be replaced. But a dog becomes part of your family."

The Heckendorfs had to inventory their losses for insurance purposes. But it's hard to put a dollar amount on certain items.

"I had my jerseys from each of the five NFL teams I was with," Heckendorf said. "I can't get those back. But I can't get too mad about any of it. I know how fortunate I am to still be here."

That fact was reinforced when he met with family members and friends of the two victims. That group included St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis, who had hosted Voigt this past school year.

"We met with the mayor and (Olson's) wife the first week after it happened," Heckendorf said. "That really provided us with a good perspective on how lucky we are. A wife lost her husband. Kids lost their father. Parents lost a child. So we really can't complain about anything."

Looking ahead

In a reversal of roles, Hille — the baseball coach at Sauk Rapids — is living with Kole and Kristen.

"He's looking at houses, but we've told him not to rush into anything," Heckendorf said. "We're all used to living together now. We know how to make it work."

At St. John's, Heckendorf is looking forward to doing what he can to help the team improve on last year's 7-3 record.

"Everybody here has been super supportive," Heckendorf said. "This coaching staff has been nothing but awesome from Day 1.

"It's been a great opportunity to learn from all of these guys and I'm looking forward to getting more involved starting this season."